Wednesday, October 5, 2011

MDeC allocates RM1.8m disbursements for ISVs

KUALA LUMPUR: The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) will be allocating RM1.8 million in disbursements and other similar benefits for independent software vendors (ISVs) to develop cloud software and related services for SMEs.

The allocation, made under the Multimedia Super Corridor Malaysia initiative, was to push for the adoption of the cloud services by businesses while catalysing demand by local enterprises for "Made-in-Malaysia" cloud software and services.

MDeC chief executive officer Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said at a press conference on Wednesday, Oct 5 that the target for 2012 was to "enable a total of 60 ISVs with an on-boarding programme and stimulus package to develop and promote Malaysia-made cloud applications and services".

He added that according to research done on the subject, the potential in terms of the spending on cloud computing services was expected to surpass US$160 billion (RM510.24 billion) worldwide by 2020.

"In Malaysia, Frost & Sullivan expects the Malaysian Business Application as a Service (BAaaS) market to reach a market size of US$161.4 million by 2017. With the MSC Malaysia Cloud Initiative, we are seeking to capitalise on this potential by kick-starting a robust cloud ecosystem locally," he told reporters.

Badlisham said MDeC is also putting aside RM2.25 million for subscription fees for to cloud software and services for up to six months for 1,500 SMEs under the SME Cloud Computing Adoption Programme.

He said that the reason for a slower adoption of the TECHNOLOGY [] was due to businesspeople not being familiar with it.

Under the Software as a Service Acceleration Programme, 60 qualified local MSC Malaysia ISVs would be entitled to a disbursement of RM15,000 from MDeC along with a specially negotiated Internet as a Service/Platform as a Service package and subscription cost covering bandwidth, storage service and/or computer service for the first few months, also worth up to RM15,000 depending on the vendor's usage.

Badlisham said that he hoped the government would encourage people to use online services while doing business.

For this initiative, MDeC will be partnering with Maxis and Jaring, among others.

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